The present invention relates in general to extracorporeal blood perfusion systems, and, more specifically, to an air removal device for separating entrained air from blood flowing in the system.
When heart surgery is performed ‘on pump’, steps are taken to remove air entrained in the blood flowing in the extracorporeal blood circuit. Preferably, air removal occurs upstream of the pump. Typically, either a cardiotomy reservoir with defoamer or a flexible venous reservoir (FVR) has been employed. An FVR typically comprises a sealed bag with a luer valve or stopcock at its upper end for manually removing excess air. A cardiotomy reservoir comprises a hard shell for collecting and storing blood which is then supplied to the pumped system. The collection chamber is open to atmosphere and the blood is at atmospheric pressure. Any air bubbles in the blood rise to the top of the collection chamber. Blood is resident in the reservoir for a time that is sufficiently long for air to separate. A blood defoamer is often mounted in the reservoir to aid in the breakdown of foam bubbles in the chamber. Substantially bubble-free blood is drawn out of the reservoir at the bottom. The cardiotomy reservoir can also be used for filtration of particulates or for addition of fluids or pharmacological agents.
Blood from a patient can be collected passively or actively. Passive drainage is accomplished by catheterizing the patient, connecting the catheter with tubing to a cardiotomy or FVR, and siphoning the blood into the cardiotomy or FVR. Active drainage is accomplished by using either a pump or vacuum source on the drainage line to pump or suction blood from the access site. The resulting blood flow rate is greater than what is obtained using passive drainage. When drainage is passive, the pressure in the extracorporeal circuit upstream of the blood pump typically becomes slightly positive relative to atmospheric. When drainage is active, the pressure in the circuit upstream of the pump frequently becomes less then atmospheric. Either a cardiotomy or FVR may be used when drainage is passive. An FVR will not work during active drainage because the negative pressure in the circuit will cause the FVR to collapse.
Certain advantages could be realized by eliminating the use of the cardiotomy reservoir. For instance, a reduction in blood contacting surface areas, a reduction of blood to air interface, a reduction of fluid priming volume of the perfusion circuit, and elimination or reduction of the amount of blood-to-defoamer contact are all expected to improve patient outcome. Since an FVR provides a closed system (i.e., not open to atmosphere) it can achieve some of these advantages to a certain degree, but it cannot be used when active drainage is desired because of the tendency to collapse under negative pressure.
Hard shell reservoirs have been used in a closed configuration in order to implement vacuum-assisted blood collection from the patient (i.e., systems known as VAVD for Vacuum Assisted Venous Drainage). The large reservoirs require a large volume of blood and generate a large blood to air interface and often use defoamer in the flow path to prevent air bubbles leaving the reservoir. In a VAVD reservoir, the blood path is continuously connected to and at the same pressure as the vacuum source. They require monitoring by the perfusionist to maintain a stable level in the reservoir by balancing blood inflow and outflow. Also known are kinetic-assist devices using a smaller chamber wherein suction for collecting blood from the patient is directly obtained from a blood pump. However, these systems require an active electronic sensor such as an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the presence of collected air and an electronically-controlled purge valve that is triggered when air is sensed. Cost and potential reliability issues associated with active sensing and purging are disadvantageous. It would be advantageous to be able to remove significant quantities of air from blood flowing at high flow rates in a passive manner (i.e., without either electronic sensors or requiring a balancing of inflow and outflow rates) and doing so whether the pressure within the system is higher or lower than atmospheric pressure.